Chelsea Manning Clemency Rejected, Appeals to Begin

Military District of Washington commander Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan has rejected Chelsea Manning's request for clemency and reversal of his conviction. The press release is here. Chelsea's case will now go to the the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) for appellate review. She has excellent new civilian lawyers for the appeals, Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward.

Nancy and Vicent gave a presentation last night at the Georgetown Law Center to Chelsea's supporters. Firedoglake has the details.[More...]

The “misuse of the Espionage Act,” the over-classification of information, the selective prosecution of individuals by the government for leaks, “unlawful command influence,” “unlawful pretrial punishment,” and violations of “speedy trial rights” will all be issues raised during the appeal.

Here's Chelsea's statement on his new lawyers, and request for donations. Chelsea couldn't be in better hands. To get a flavor of Nancy's philosophy on representing unpopular defendants, here's an op-ed she wrote in 2010 for the New York Times on defending alleged terrorists.